The present invention relates to a method of controlling the content of an electronic message on an electronic messaging system.
Nowadays, information is routinely disseminated using social media, i.e. electronic messaging systems such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to name but a few of many examples. Other examples may include enterprise or other business forums where users post messages to disseminate such information.
An author of such an electronic message typically intends to reach the widest possible target audience on the electronic messaging system. However, this objective is not always achieved because the message may not be drafted in such a manner that it appeals to at least some members of the target audience. In particular, the electronic message may contain content that is not of interest to or cannot be understood by these members.
At the same time, such an electronic message may contain restricted content that should only be accessible to some members of the target audience, e.g. members of certain communities. In other words, the audience of the electronic messaging system having access to the message may contain members to which some of the content of the message should not be disclosed.
It is often practically impossible for the author of the message to define a set of rules or otherwise compile the message such that the message content meets the needs of every community having access to the message. For instance, the author simply may not possess the knowledge of the composition of the community or the author may be a member of many different communities such that it simply is impossible to meet the needs of every community, for instance because different communities may have conflicting requirements.
In U.S. Pat. No. 8,630,968 B2, mechanisms are provided directed toward monitoring a user's interaction with a website when the user is utilizing an enterprise device to conduct the interaction. The monitoring of the interaction can lead to the generation of one or more automated responses to control the interaction in accordance with enterprise policy or rules. The types of interactions which can be controlled include interactions where the user is attempting to post data on the website. This may be used to prevent a user from posting inappropriate data on the website. However, such control does not take into consideration the target audiences of the user, such that the posted message may still provide content that is irrelevant to at least certain parts of the audience, which may hamper dissemination of the relevant content to the intended audiences, for instance because the relevant content is hidden in an electronic message that does not appeal to the intended audience or because the relevant content is not provided in a suitable form.